» Google

Google Adwords at the bottom of the SERPS?

Brian Chappell — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 04:01:51 +0000

It appears Google is testing ad placements near the bottom of the page. I am seeing them at the bottom solely (when no placement is at the top), as well as when there is an accompanyingÂ placement at the top. It will be very interesting how this one weighs out, and if they institute this across the board.

It appears the last time they tested this was back in 05′

Here is a screencast:

Google Knol Does Know How to Search After All

Brian Chappell — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:16:47 +0000

Google Knol recently launched. If you have not started writing articles for it, well then, hurry the heck up before you get passed by all the other folks who understand the need to get an early start. My latest post was on Increasing Conversions, I started off with 68+ tips and tricks to do so and I fully welcome others to add there thoughts to the article.Now you might have noticed, after writing an article, you could not find it or others. It appeared the “search feature” was not working. The only way to see your article through searching was by being logged in.In fact, a gentlemen for the LA times thought nobody was even writing articles, which obviously was not the case. Turns out it takes “time” for Knols to be searchable, according to a Google representative.Now that we know Google knows how to search, the remaining question is how well are the articles going to rank? I have a strong feeling these pages are going to rank well. In fact they have already starting do just that.

Now I know these are somewhat “long tail terms” but this is a brand new sub domain. It has not been live but for about a week. Give Knol some time to build up backlinks and age and you can start to understand the ramifications of all of this.

Manual Intervention per Matt C.

Brian Chappell — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:26:15 +0000

For the first time in my history of webmastering, Matt admitted in the Q/A at SMX Advanced that there is a level of manual intervention and detection with regards to backlinks. I figured the likes, but its interesting to see he is no longer trying to take a claim of “we are solely algorithmic”… BrianChappell.gooruze.com

How to Track RSS Subscribers using Meta Refresh in Google Analytics

Brian Chappell — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:33:11 +0000

This is the first of many How to Video’s I am going to be creating throughout the course of 2008. I go into brief detail on how to setup a meta refresh on a intermediary page, thus allowing google analytics to track RSS subscribers, for any blog using feedburner.

Please take note in the video I mention Meta Redirect when in reality I am talking about the Meta Refresh.

Here is the code you are going to want to use to make this work on your blog:

(note: you might have to manually add the double quotation marks if you are copy and pasting the above code into your WYSIWYG web editor.)

Simply attach that in your tag on your “intermediary page”, eg., brianchappell.com/subscribe.php on my blog. Then point your link to refresh to the physical feed page on your blog. (if you are using wordpress then it default’s to whatever.com/feed) After that is set up, drop your google analtyics code within the

It is as simple as that. Wait 24 hours, and you should start seeing your goal reports popping up.
Keep an eye out for a more detailed post on how to also make this work with Google click tracking using javascript tagging.

Also take kindly in understanding this is my first attempt at video creation, so it’s FAR from perfect.

New Google universal result: spokeo query

Brian Chappell — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 01:44:52 +0000

spokeo query

Originally uploaded by explainseo

Very odd query done in google for “spokeo” Images are usually standalone. This is typically what a video result would look like. Not the case here however. I also find it interesting that there is a 43 sec notation right next to the site description, however, if you refresh the query it doesn’t change.

Link De-valuation coming in waves – Part II

Brian Chappell — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:53:09 +0000

Well as we all know, Google likes to play around with serious algorithm changes during the slow summer months. The competitor I mentioned several months back has appeared to have been hit by the link devaluation filter again. Has
Google tuned up their filter after receiving paid links via its snitch report; subsequently reinstating it with the new changes?

How to find your Supplemental Pages?

Brian Chappell — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:01:20 +0000

Enter in the following into Google to find your supplemental pages:

site:www.http://www.sitename.com *** -sljktf

UPDATE: Google has since removed this query from its arsenal. It no longer works. It is a sad day for webmasters every where.

Adapt as an SEO, or get washed away

Brian Chappell — Wed, 16 May 2007 22:05:20 +0000

With the latest Google revamp, SEO’s are going to have to find ways to keep their clients on the first page. The days of competing via only contextual listings are gone. Now that video, news, and maps are thrown in the mix, space is at a premium! Only time will tell how cluttered the pages will get, however, it is a bit early to judge how this will pan out. If Google is smart though they will keep it simple and holistic. IMHO they could easily get carried away and need to keep one simple thing in mind, what has helped them get to where they are today, simplicity and consistency.

Link De-valuation coming in waves?

Brian Chappell — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:35:38 +0000

I watch a niche every single day. I have been following a competitor’s ranking for close to 2 years now. We know Google is proactively devaluing links that they feel are solely there to manipulate the engines. From what I see if you purchase links the right way you are ok, I mean you have to be really dumb about your tactics if you keep the links purchases to only relevant sites.

I find it very interesting because this competitor partakes in methods which inevitably gives them hundreds of links across hundreds of different authoritative, relevant sites. Keep in mind this is a very old site that has hundreds of thousands of backlinks, they are about as authoritative as you can get. You practically have to murder something to get devalued like they are. The site used to dominate, it used to be #1 for tons of terms. Recently they came back into the picture, dominating like usual, then bam, de-valuation as I call it and they drop 6-7 spots on every single term they used to sit at #1 for. To me its very interesting to see them come back into the picture and then jump back down. I have noticed this happening since early this year and it has happened a couple of times now where it looked like they were back to dominate, only to get hammered several weeks later. Their optimizer is surely having a ulcer by now.

Can you really compare Google and MSN

Brian Chappell — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 14:58:23 +0000

Andy Beal initiated a post over at marketing pilgrim asking his audience if they thought Google would be the next Microsoft. There are some good responses so far but one gentlemen in particular thought that Google is headed down that same road. I really donâ€™t see the similarity other then the sole fact that they both dominate what they do. To me that isnâ€™t enough however to say Google IS MSN. The strikingly clear difference is that Google does not force you, Google does not inhibit others, Google does not charge $$ for every single feature they come out with. MSN on the other hand since day one has charged ridiculous amounts of money for its software.

IMO they could have very easily packaged Microsoft suite with there operating system, for starters. But no this has never been the case. They would rather charge 200 dollars for it. Google gives away so many free products it’s overwhelming. Google could have monetized them like Microsoft did and have made a lot more $$. The tip of the iceberg here with regards to Micr$oft; a prime example of my point here, when XBOX first came out it was pretty slick. It had a built in DVD player to watch movies with. But in order to watch them you HAD to go out and pay 30 bucks for the damn add-on to make it happen. WTF how hard would it to have been to package this with the system, would Google do something like this? Hell no. Cmon donâ€™t even compare Google to MSN it’s not even close.